Eliminate the Paper Chase: Find Papers Fast

As a teacher do you cringe when a student asks, “What did I miss last Thursday?”? Or do you dread the student’s statement, “I KNOW I turned that assignment in, YOU LOST IT!”?

Part 1: Tracking each day
A teacher that is new to my building this year has turned me onto an organizational system that has really helped me keep my sanity! It takes only a few minutes each morning to fill in the two-page template shown here.
When a student returns after an absence, I can quickly look through my completed template files and know exactly what content and homework assignments the student missed.

Part 2: Every Paper has a Home
I am a visual, science type so I like to organize by colors of the rainbow – ROYGBIV. But since I have only 5 classes, I just use Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. I take ordinary expanding file pockets, and attach colored paper.

Each of these colored folders is placed in a clear, open-top file box.

This fits nicely in a tote bag like the ones used for groceries.

When I collect papers from my classes, they go directly into the appropriately-colored location. The colors help make certain each goes with the correct class. Now when I leave my room for my prep or to go home for the evening, I have everything ready to go!

7 Comments

Awesome blog you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get feed-back from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Cheers!|

Thanks, Peggy, for sharing all these great sites around organization! Do you have some ideas to share on how to organize/set up your classroom physically to maximize space and to have students work most effectively?

Science classrooms are different from most other classroom because experimentation is integral to so many lessons. Safety of all persons in the room is paramount in any science room and needs to be a constant focus.

As a teacher demonstrates a particular concept, the room needs to be arranged so that every student can clearly see what is happening. Student experimentation too is often a part of many lessons. The room needs to be arranged so that students can easily and safely collaborate. There need to be clear, safe traffic paths. The science teacher needs to be able to easily monitor and assist each student group. Consideration must also be given to how students are going to access needed equipment and supplies to maximize instructional time and minimize waiting time. Carefully plan where materials will be located as students enter the room when the students haven’t yet been introduced to the purpose and hazard of materials to be used during the class period. Long term storage is also important. Arrange materials so that you can easily locate all the materials needed for a particular lesson. Having a file box of activities organized by science units which includes an index card for each activity listing ALL the materials needed for each activity is very useful. It does take time to create the index cards but the time invested is well worth the rewards.

During times of direct instruction, the desks need to be arranged so that every student can clearly see the board. A seating chart contributes to an organized atmosphere and also helps any substitute teacher.

The wall space can be used to focus student attention on different aspects of a curricular unit. A Word Wall helps students to learn and remember to use new vocabulary words. Electronic textbooks facilitate creating enlargements of key illustrations, tables and charts directly from the text. These are not difficult to create (if you have an electronic textbook) and can be very useful for the teacher and student alike. These can be referred to by the teacher during times of direct instruction and are useful to students as a ready reference during the unit.

Remember your classroom with its displays and organization need to reflect your high expectations for student learning and participation as well as student behaviors.

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Dr. Kira Baker-Doyle is an Associate Professor of Education at Arcadia University’s School of Education. She is the Director of the Master’s and Certificate programs, and the founding director of the Connected Learning certificate program. Baker-Doyle is the author The Networked Teacher: How New Teacher Build Social Networks for Professional Support (2011), and the forthcoming book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Learning and Leadership in a Connected World (Harvard Education Press, In Press). She currently editing a book with co-author Dr. Susan Yoon entitled Networked By Design: Interventions for Teacher to Develop Social Capital (Routledge, Forthcoming 2018).

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